Rising Star Award: Andrzej Paszek

British Parking Awards 2024

Andrzej Paszek joined Agena Group in 2021 as a mobile parking operative to help finance his studies. But it quickly became apparent that the company had gained a young talent with big ambition and the skills to go far. Within months he began moving up the organisation taking on managerial responsibility and proving himself to be an exceptional line manager, and is now a junior IT project manager

Alex Cooke, Agena’s chief operating officer, says: “When Andrzej expressed his ambition to apply his Business Degree and retrain to become a project manager, we knew it was our duty to help him achieve his goals and he was welcomed onto our Ascend Apprenticeship scheme. Having completed his apprenticeship in record time – 12 months rather than the allotted 21 months – Andrzej is now a qualified junior IT project manager and has contributed to some of the most pivotal projects in Agena Group’s growth and diversification strategy.”

Paszek commenced his degree at Middlesex University and around the same time joined Agena Group in 2021 as a mobile patrol operative, which fitted around his studies as it gave him the flexibility he needed. However, Agena Group recognised that it had gained a young talent with big ambition and the skills to go far. Within seven months Andrzej was promoted to warden team leader, transforming an underperforming team of 30 wardens into one of the highest performing teams.

When Paszek expressed his ambition to apply his International Business degree and retrain to become a project manager, Agena saw an opportunity to nurture his talent whilst fulfilling an essential need within the business. At the time Agena Group was preparing to launch a growth and diversification strategy, which was underpinned by the development of digital-first products and industry-leading data insights solutions. This was to be led by its tech innovation business, Atria. In preparation it advertised a role for apprentice project management officer and invited Paszek to apply.

Agena Group’s Ascend Apprenticeship programme is an essential tool for retaining and attracting talent into the business. Core to the programme is the opportunity for current employees to retrain or develop in their chosen career path whilst earning a market rate salary.

Pazek’s dedication to his apprenticeship and hard work saw him complete the course in a record 12 months – half the time expected. Fleur Grewcock, educator at Heart of England Training, says: “The APM apprenticeship is usually completed over the space of 21 months. Nine months dedicated to the PMQ and then the following year to the gathering of evidence for the standard. Andrzej completed this all in one year which I have never known before. This was due to his determination and dedication.”

Since joining Agena Group, Paszek has proven to be an asset to the business in every position he has held. He has contributed to some of the biggest digital transformation programmes seen at Agena, managing complex programme plans and coordinating between core teams and stakeholders across the group. He has become a conduit between the IT development teams and the end user and has worked hard to improve its internal processes.

For example, as project management officer he supported the ‘Fleet’ initiative to address complex processes for recouping parking charge notices (PCNs) attached to rented vehicles. Savings this year include:

• percentage cost savings: approx. 72.93%
• number of letters saved: approx. 28,985
• CO2 emissions saved: approx. 0.122016 tones (roughly equivalent to 81% of the emissions from one short-haul flight).

He also managed programme plans for the launch of a suite of new digital products core to Agena’s diversification drive including its first ever consumer-products. Technology-enabled solutions now account for 53% of total revenue.

Meanwhile, Paszek oversaw the delivery of ‘Timesheets’, an internal app that monitors financial and time-spend on projects to enhance forecasting, forward planning and budgeting.

Paszek reimagined the IT change management process for internal and customer change requests, including managing full IT road map and developing a system of transparency and collaboration between IT teams and stakeholders. He also contributed to Agena’s certification as ‘Carbon Neutral’ six years ahead of schedule as part of the company’s environmental committee. This year Paszek implemented Agena’s ‘Think Before You Print’ campaign designed to reduce printing and paper-waste and to move the organisation to digital-first approach.

Always looking for opportunities for growth, Paszek successfully applied to the company’s Bright Stars mentoring scheme, a 12-month programme of training, development and mentoring with a senior leader which he completed simultaneously to his apprenticeship programme.

COO Alex Cooke, who is Bright Star mentor, says: “Andrzej has an incredibly bright future ahead of him and he has started to take on some bigger and more demanding projects in reflection of this. We hope that he continues his journey with Agena for as long as possible and the challenge for us it to make sure we can keep up with him along the way!”

Winner’s words

Andrzej Pazek: “This award means really a lot. I mean, I never won anything in my life, so it’s really great to be recognised. Even being nominated was such a huge honour. So, actually getting to win the award…I can’t really describe it.”

The British Parking Awards

Created and presented by Parking Review magazine, the British Parking Awards are an independent competition. The awards recognise the leading examples of car park management, enforcement, design and team work.

The British Parking Awards 2024 ceremony took place at the Royal Lancaster London on 13 September.

To find out more about the competition and next year’s event check out the official website.
www.britishparkingawards.uk